Health Care Workers' Risk Perceptions of Personal and Work Activities and Willingness to Report for Work During an Influenza Pandemic

The ability and willingness of health care workers to report for work during a pandemic are essential to pandemic response. The main contribution of this article is to examine the relationship between risk perception of personal and work activities and willingness to report for work during an influenza pandemic. Data were collected through a quantitative Web-based survey sent to health care workers on the island of Montreal. Respondents were asked about their perception of various risks to obtain index measures of risk perception. A multinomial logit model was applied for the probability estimations, and a factor analysis was conducted to compute risk perception indexes (scores). Risk perception associated with personal and work activities is a significant predictor of intended presence at work during an influenza pandemic. The average predicted probability of being at work during the worst scenario of an influenza pandemic is 46% for all workers in the sample, 36% for those overestimating risk in personal and work activities (95% CI: 35%-37%), 53% for those underestimating risk in work activities (95% CI: 52%-54%), and 49% for those underestimating risk of personal activities (95% CI: 48%-50%). When given an opportunity to change their intentions, 45% of those who initially did not intend to report for work in the worst scenario would do so if the pandemic resulted in a severe manpower shortage. These results have not been previously reported in the literature. Many organizational variables are also significant

Analyse de l’effet des règles d’obtention d’un permis de conduire au Québec (1991) sur la sécurité routière

La réglementation de la sécurité routière a été l’objet de plusieurs études. Sa principale motivation est reliée aux externalités que certains conducteurs peuvent générer à d’autres individus (conducteurs, piétons) et qui ne peuvent être tarifées directement par différents marchés privés. L’objectif de notre recherche est d’évaluer l’effet des règles d’obtention d’un permis de conduire au Québec (1991) sur les taux d’accidents des nouveaux conducteurs. Il n’est pas toujours évident qu’un changement de réglementation affectera le niveau d’équilibre de prévention routière dans une société. Dans cette recherche, nous vérifions que l’effet de la réforme n’est pas significatif sur les taux d’accidents et ce, ni pour l’ensemble des nouveaux conducteurs, ni pour l’ensemble des nouvelles conductrices, et ni pour chaque groupe d’âge analysé séparément. Par contre, il y a clairement des effets d’âge sur les taux d’accidents. Les nouveaux conducteurs comme les nouvelles conductrices âgés de 20 ans et plus, sont moins à risque d’avoir un accident que ceux et celles âgés de 16 ans à l’obtention du permis. Les nouveaux conducteurs âgés de 17 ans et ceux âgés de 18-19 ans enregistrent des risques semblables aux 16 ans. Ces variations entre les groupes d’âges montrent une grande hétérogénéité des nouveaux conducteurs et conductrices même durant leur première année de conduite alors que la réglementation de 1991 des nouveaux conducteurs et conductrices les considérait comme homogènes. Nous avons également vérifié si l’expérience accumulée durant la première année affecte les taux d’accidents. Nous obtenons que les taux moyens d’accidents observés durant les trois premiers mois chez les femmes et les quatre premiers mois chez les hommes, sont plus élevés que ceux des périodes subséquentes de 30 jours.Road safety regulation has been the object of many studies. Its main motivation is related to externalities between individuals (drivers, pedestrians) that cannot be priced directly in different private markets. The object of this research is to evaluate the effects of the change in the regulation (Quebec 1991) on access to the driving permit on crash rates. It is not always evident that a regulation change will affect the equilibrium level of safety in a given society. We found that the 1991 reform had no significant effect on crash rates, be it for all new drivers, male drivers, female drivers, or any age group taken separately. However, there is an age effect on accidents. New drivers, male and female who are at least 20 years old, are at a lower risk than those 16 years old when obtaining the permit. Male drivers who are 17 or 18-19 years old have similar risks as the 16 year old. These differences between age groups show a great heterogeneity among the new drivers even in their first year, but the 1991 regulation treated all new drivers uniformly. We have also investigated the effect of experience during the first year on crash rates. Average rates for the first three months for women and for the first four months for men are higher than the rates for the subsequent months

Analyse de l’effet des règles d’obtention d’un permis de conduire au Québec (1991) sur la sécurité routière

Road safety regulation has been the object of many studies. Its main motivation is related to externalities between individuals (drivers, pedestrians) that cannot be priced directly in different private markets. The object of this research is to evaluate the effects of the change in the regulation (Quebec 1991) on access to the driving permit on crash rates. It is not always evident that a regulation change will affect the equilibrium level of safety in a given society. We found that the 1991 reform had no significant effect on crash rates, be it for all new drivers, male drivers, female drivers, or any age group taken separately. However, there is an age effect on accidents. New drivers, male and female who are at least 20 years old, are at a lower risk than those 16 years old when obtaining the permit. Male drivers who are 17 or 18-19 years old have similar risks as the 16 year old. These differences between age groups show a great heterogeneity among the new drivers even in their first year, but the 1991 regulation treated all new drivers uniformly. We have also investigated the effect of experience during the first year on crash rates. Average rates for the first three months for women and for the first four months for men are higher than the rates for the subsequent months. La réglementation de la sécurité routière a été l’objet de plusieurs études. Sa principale motivation est reliée aux externalités que certains conducteurs peuvent générer à d’autres individus (conducteurs, piétons) et qui ne peuvent être tarifées directement par différents marchés privés. L’objectif de notre recherche est d’évaluer l’effet des règles d’obtention d’un permis de conduire au Québec (1991) sur les taux d’accidents des nouveaux conducteurs. Il n’est pas toujours évident qu’un changement de réglementation affectera le niveau d’équilibre de prévention routière dans une société. Dans cette recherche, nous vérifions que l’effet de la réforme n’est pas significatif sur les taux d’accidents et ce, ni pour l’ensemble des nouveaux conducteurs, ni pour l’ensemble des nouvelles conductrices, et ni pour chaque groupe d’âge analysé séparément. Par contre, il y a clairement des effets d’âge sur les taux d’accidents. Les nouveaux conducteurs comme les nouvelles conductrices âgés de 20 ans et plus, sont moins à risque d’avoir un accident que ceux et celles âgés de 16 ans à l’obtention du permis. Les nouveaux conducteurs âgés de 17 ans et ceux âgés de 18-19 ans enregistrent des risques semblables aux 16 ans. Ces variations entre les groupes d’âges montrent une grande hétérogénéité des nouveaux conducteurs et conductrices même durant leur première année de conduite alors que la réglementation de 1991 des nouveaux conducteurs et conductrices les considérait comme homogènes. Nous avons également vérifié si l’expérience accumulée durant la première année affecte les taux d’accidents. Nous obtenons que les taux moyens d’accidents observés durant les trois premiers mois chez les femmes et les quatre premiers mois chez les hommes, sont plus élevés que ceux des périodes subséquentes de 30 jours.

Health care workers' risk perceptions of personal and work activities and willingness to report for work during an influenza pandemic Health care workers' risk perceptions of personal and work activities and willingness to report for work during an influe

ABSTRACT: The ability and willingness of health care workers to report for work during a pandemic are essential to pandemic response. The main contribution of this article is to examine the relationship between risk perception of personal and work activities and willingness to report for work during an influenza pandemic. Data were collected through a quantitative Web-based survey sent to health care workers on the island of Montreal. Respondents were asked about their perception of various risks to obtain index measures of risk perception.. A multinomial logit model was applied for the probability estimations, and a factor analysis was conducted to compute risk perception indexes (scores). Risk perception associated with personal and work activities is a significant predictor of intended presence at work during an influenza pandemic. The average predicted probability of being at work during the worst scenario of an influenza pandemic is 46% for all workers in the sample, 36% for those overestimating risk in personal and work activities (95% CI: 35%−37%), 53% for those underestimating risk in work activities (95% CI: 52%−54%), and 49% for those underestimating risk of personal activities (95% CI: 48%−50%). When given an opportunity to change their intentions, 45% of those who initially did not intend to report for work in the worst scenario would do so if the pandemic resulted in a severe manpower shortage. These results have not been previously reported in the literature. Many organizational variables are also significant

Health Care Workers’ Risk Perceptions and Willingness to Report for Work during an Influenza Pandemic

The ability and willingness of health care workers to report for work during a pandemic are essential to pandemic response. The main contribution of this article is to examine the relationship between risk perception of personal and work activities and willingness to report for work during an influenza pandemic. Data were collected through a quantitative Web-based survey sent to health care workers on the island of Montreal. Respondents were asked about their perception of various risks to obtain index measures of risk perception. A multinomial logit model was applied for the probability estimations, and a factor analysis was conducted to compute risk perception indexes (scores). Risk perception associated with personal and work activities is a significant predictor of intended presence at work during an influenza pandemic. This means that correcting perceptual biases should be a public policy concern. These results have not been previously reported in the literature. Many organizational variables are also significant

Texture classification of photographic papers: improving spectral clustering using filterbanks on graphs

International audienceFrom the point of view of graph signal processing, we show that spectral clustering is equivalent to an ideal low-pass filterbank. Building upon previous multiscale community detection ideas [11], and integrating the concept of community cores [8], we propose a data-driven filterbank-based classification method. We apply this method to the texture classification of photographic papers useful to art historians, and we show that it provides a richer and more informative description of the data’s structure in clusters

Multiscale Anisotropic Texture Unsupervised Clustering for Photographic Paper

International audienceTexture characterization of photographic papers is likely to provide scholars with valuable information regarding artistic practices. Currently, texture assessment remains mostly based on visual and manual inspections, implying long repetitive tasks prone to inter- and even intra-observer variability. Automated texture characterization and classification procedures are thus important tasks in historical studies of large databases of photographic papers, likely to provide quantitative and reproducible assessments of texture matches. Such procedures may, for instance, produce vital information on photographic prints of uncertain origins. The hyperbolic wavelet transform, because it relies on the use of different dilation factor along the horizontal and vertical axes, permits to construct robust and meaningful multiscale and anisotropic representation of textures. In the present contribution, we explore how unsupervised clustering strategies can be complemented both to assess the significance of extracted clusters and the strength of the contribution of each texture to its associated cluster. Graph based filterbank strategies are notably investigated with the aim to produce small size significant clusters. These tools are illustrated at work on a large database of about 2500 exposed and non exposed photographic papers carefully assembled and documented by the MoMA and P. Messier's foundation. Results are commented and interpreted

Performance of two multiscale texture algorithms in classifying silver gelatine paper via k-nearest neighbors

International audienceAs part of the Historic Photographic Paper Classification Challenge, a multitude of approaches to quantifying paper texture similarity have been developed. These approaches have yielded encouraging results when applied to very controlled datasets containing photomicrographs of familiar specimens. In this paper, we report on the k-nearest neighbors classification performance of two multiscale analysis-based texture similarity approaches when applied to a much larger reference collection of silver gelatin photographic papers. The clusters for this data set were derived from a visual sorting experiment conducted by art conservators and paper experts later extended through crowd-sourcing. The results show that these texture similarity approaches, when combined with a simple k-nearest neighbors classification algorithm, yield workable performances with accuracy of up to 69%. We discuss this outcome in the context of available data and the cross-validation procedure used, then provide suggestions for improvement

Multiscale Anisotropic Texture Analysis and Classification of Photographic Prints: Art scholarship meets image processing algorithms

International audienceTexture characterization of photographic prints can provide scholars with valuable information regarding photographers? aesthetic intentions and working practices. Currently, texture assessment is strictly based on the visual acuity of a range of scholars associated with collecting institutions, such as museum curators and conservators. Natural interindividual discrepancies, intraindividual variability, and the large size of collections present a pressing need for computerized and automated solutions for the texture characterization and classification of photographic prints. In the this article, this challenging image processing task is addressed using an anisotropic multiscale representation of texture, the hyperbolic wavelet transform (HWT), from which robust multiscale features are constructed. Cepstral distances aimed at ensuring balanced multiscale contributions are computed between pairs of images. The resulting large-size affinity matrix is then clustered using spectral clustering, followed by a Ward linkage procedure. For proof of concept, these procedures are first applied to a reference data set of historic photographic papers that combine several levels of similarity and second to a large data set of culturally valuable photographic prints held by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The characterization and clustering results are interpreted in collaboration with art scholars with an aim toward developing new modes of art historical research and humanities-based collaboration

Les collisions en 1987 et en 1999 : comparaisons entre les personnes utilisatrices du téléphone mobile en 1999 et les toujours non-utilisatrices

Le téléphone mobile utilisé au volant constitue une distraction qui pourrait nuire à une conduite sécuritaire. Une recherche sur 12 691 conducteurs utilisateurs(trices) et 23 387 conducteurs non-utilisateurs(trices) a montré que les utilisateurs et utilisatrices ont des risques relatifs de collision avec blessés et de toutes les collisions de 38 % plus élevés que les non-utilisateurs et les non-utilisatrices (Laberge-Nadeau et al., 2003).Deux questions se posent : (i) Est-ce que ces deux cohortes sont comparables en terme de taux de collision avant l’utilisation du téléphone mobile ? (ii) Comment répondre à l’argument que l’utilisation des téléphones mobiles ne pose pas de risques car elle augmente avec les années, mais les taux de collision diminuent ? Parmi les 36 078 répondants de 1999 on trouve 18 707 personnes qui possédaient un permis de conduire en 1987 : 5 107 hommes sont devenus utilisateurs, 7 779 sont restés non-utilisateurs, 1 365 et 4 438 respectivement pour les femmes. Les taux de collision pour les deux groupes en 1987 ne sont pas significativement différents, ni pour toutes les collisions, ni pour les collisions avec blessés. Entre 1987 et 1999 les taux de collision des non-utilisateurs ont diminués significativement plus que ceux des devenus utilisateurs. Le même résultat tient pour les femmes.En conclusion : (i) Sur la base des collisions de 1987, on peut donc affirmer que la cohorte des utilisateurs et celle des utilisatrices sont comparables, quoique légèrement moins sécuritaires pour le groupe d’âge 16-34 ans, respectivement à la cohorte des non-utilisateurs et celle des non-utilisatrices avant l’utilisation du téléphone mobile, (ii) Les taux de collision diminuent de façon différentes pour les deux cohortes; ils diminuent plus pour les non-utilisateurs et les non-utilisatrices que pour les utilisateurs et les utilisatrices.The cell phone when used at the wheel may be a distraction that could be harmful to road safety. A research project on 12 691 drivers users and 23 387 drivers non-users has shown that the users, men as well as women, have relative risks for collisions and for injury collisions that are 38 % higher that for non-users (Laberge-Nadeau et al., 2003).Two questions arise : (i) Are the two cohorts comparable in terms of collision rates before using the cell phone? (ii) How to respond to the argument that cell phones pose no risks since their use is increasing but collision rates diminish?Among the 36 078 respondents of 1999 there were 18 707 with a driver’s permit in 1987 : 5 107 men became users, 7 779 remained non-users, 1 365 and 4 438 respectively for the women. Collision rates in 1987 for the two groups are not significantly different, neither for all collisions, nor for injury collisions. Between 1987 and 1999 the collision rates for non users declined significantly more than for the ones who became users; this result holds for men and for women.In conclusion : (i) On the basis of the collisions in 1987, one can assert that the cohort of male users and the one of female users are comparable, although slightly less safe for the younger users (16-34 years old), to the cohort of male non-users and of female non-users respectively before the use of a cell phone. (ii) The collision rates diminish differently for the two cohorts; they decrease more for the non-users than for the users, both for men and women